Preparation of ordered mesoporous SiCN ceramics with large surface area and high thermal stability

For the first time, highly ordered two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) mesoporous SiCN ceramics with high surface area and high thermal stability were prepared by nanocasting a preceramic polymer solution into mesoporous carbon templates, CMK-3 and CMK-8, respectively. As a negative replica of CMK-3 carbon, the obtained mesoporous SiCN ceramic possessed an ordered 2-D hexagonal mesostructure, which is similar to the structure of SBA-15 silica except for the reduced dimensions. An ordered 3-D cubic mesoporous SiCN ceramic was also fabricated using CMK-8 as a template. The wall of the mesoporous SiCN replicas consisted of an amorphous SiCN ceramic phase, which possessed high thermal stability at high temperature up to 1000 °C. N2-sorption isotherms revealed that these ordered mesoporous SiCN ceramics have high BET surface areas (up to 472 m2 g−1) and narrow pore-size distributions, which was preserved even after a re-treatment at 1000 °C in air. The use of carbon template played an important role in the preparation of mesoporous SiCN replicas and enhanced the thermal stability of the SiCN products. It is expected that many other types of ordered mesoporous ceramics can be prepared from nanoporous carbon by nanocasting method.